Patching zero-day vulnerabilities: an empirical analysis

Zero-day vulnerabilities remain one of the major security threats that are faced by organizations. Once a vendor learns about a zero-day vulnerability, releasing a timely patch becomes a priority given the risk of zero-day exploits. However, we still lack information on the factors that affect patch release time of such vulnerabilities. The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of other as-yet unexplored factors on the patch release time of zero-day vulnerabilities. Using zero-day vulnerability dataset captured between 2010 and 2020, we employ survival analysis technique. Our model explores the impact of vulnerability attack vector, attack complexity, privileges required, user interaction, scope, confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact on patch release timing. Findings show that a zero-day vulnerability is more likely to be patched on time if the vulnerability results in a scope change and affects more vendors, products, and versions. However, a zero-day vulnerability is less likely to be patched on time if it requires privileges and impacts confidentiality. Our sub-analyses also reveal how patch release times vary across different products and vulnerability types.

Are maps of nitrate reduction in groundwater altered by climate and land use changes?

Nitrate reduction maps have been used routinely in Northern Europe for calculating efficiency of remediation measures and impact on climate change on nitrate leaching and are as such valuable tools for policy analysis and mitigation targeting. Nitrate maps are normally based on output from complex hydrological models, and once generated, are largely assumed constant in time. However, the distribution, magnitude and efficiency of nitrate reduction can not necessarily be considered stationary during changing climate and land use as flow paths, nitrate release timing and their interaction may shift. This study investigates the potential errors when a constant nitrate map is assumed during land use and climate change, both for N-loads and the spatial variation in reduction. For this purpose, a crop and soil model (Daisy) was setup up to provide nitrate input to a distributed hydrological model (MIKE SHE) for an agricultural catchment in Funen, Denmark. Nitrate reduction maps based on an observed dataset of land use and climate were generated and compared to nitrate reduction maps generated for all combinations of four potential land use change scenarios and four future climate model projections. Nitrate reduction maps were found to be more sensitive to changes in climate, leading to reduction map change of up to 10 %; while land use changes effects were minor. The study, however, also showed that the reductions maps are products of a range of complex interactions and that the combination of the choices made for selected scenarios, model formulations and assumptions are critical for the resulting span in reduction capability.

Intertemporal Demand Spillover Effects on Video Game Platforms

Many platform strategies focus on indirect network effects between sellers through platform expansion. In this paper, we show sellers on the console video game platform generate a positive intertemporal spillover effect and expand the demand for other sellers, holding the set of platform adopters fixed. We propose a novel identification strategy that leverages exogenous variation in the release timing of games exclusively available on a console platform, and examine how this variation affects the sales of games available on both platforms. We find a sizable intertemporal demand spillover effect between games: A 1% increase in total copies sold on a platform leads to a 0.153% increase in the sales of other games in the next month (i.e., an elasticity of 0.153). Additional analysis suggests this demand spillover effect is reminiscent of habit formation on the consumer side, in that past purchases keep end users active on the platform. Our finding provides a potential explanation for recent platform sales events and subscription services that provide free games to consumers every month. This paper was accepted by Eric Anderson, marketing.

When do the USPTO examiners cite as the EPO examiners? An analysis of examination spillovers through rejection citations at the international family-to-family level

This paper empirically examines coincidences between “rejection citations” (i.e., those cited as grounds for rejections) added by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and “X/Y patent citations,” which are also added as grounds for rejections at the European Patent Office (EPO) within the same patent family, based on more than forty thousand families of triadic application sample. We consider the release timing of European search reports and the timing of rejection actions by the USPTO for the same family of patent applications. We find that the frequency of rejection (X/Y-equivalent) citation coincidences between the USPTO and the EPO according to family-to-family citation criteria increases after the release of search reports by the EPO. It suggests that the US examiners capture spillovers of search efforts from the EPO, namely, the USPTO examiners rely on prior art information collected and disclosed by the EPO. The results also reveal that International Search Reports (ISRs) prepared for Patent Corporation Treaty (PCT) applications, as well as applicant-submitted citations, play important roles for the convergence of rejection citations between the two patent offices. We furthermore find that the US examiners are less likely to add the same patent citations as the EPO examiners when rejections are persistently repeated at the USPTO. The methodology in this paper introduces the novel use of patent examiner citations to compare examiners’ citing behavior across jurisdictions.

Cross-Shore Deformation of a Surfzone-Released Dye Plume by an Internal Tide on the Inner Shelf

An inner-shelf (IS) dye plume that formed following a 3.84-h early morning surfzone (SZ) dye release off of Imperial Beach, California, is analyzed with in situ and aerial remotely sensed observations. Midmorning, 5 h after release start, the IS plume extended 800 m offshore (or ≈8Lsz, where Lsz is the surfzone width) and was surface intensified. Over the next ≈2 h, the IS plume deformed (narrowed) cross-shore with the offshore front progressing onshore at ≈5 cm s−1, deepened by up to 3 m, and elongated alongshore at ≈4.5 cm s−1 km−1 (at ≈2.5Lsz). Coincident with IS plume deformation and deepening, IS isotherms also deepened, with relatively stable IS plume joint dye and temperature statistics. Offshore tracer transport and subsequent IS plume deformation and deepening likely resulted from two phases of the diurnal internal tide (DIT). During and after deformation, the IS plume did not reenter the warm surfzone, which potentially acted as a thermal barrier. High-frequency internal waves (HF IWs) propagated through the IS plume at ≈9 cm s−1 and dissipated onshore of 4Lsz. Surface HF IW signal was elevated in the plume elongation region, suggesting a linkage between plume elongation and either the DIT or HF IW. This IS plume evolution differs from previous SZ tracer releases, highlighting the effects of release timing relative to the solar cycle or the internal tide.

Revenue Sharing Vertical Contracts in the Movie Industry: A Theoretical Analysis

For many years, the movie industry has been characterized by a unique (compared to other industries) type of vertical contracting practice, called sliding-scale contracting whereby the distributor (studio) takes a much larger (usually around 70%) share of box-office revenues than the exhibitor (theater) in the week of a movie’s release, with the exhibitor’s share increasing, in gradual steps, over subsequent weeks. In this paper, we propose a game-theoretic model that provides a new rationale for these contracting choices. Specifically, we show that these contracts effectively resolve conflicts of interest between studios and theaters over movie release timing and display length, in a way that is beneficial for both parties. Our model also stipulates conditions under which sliding scale become dominated by aggregate deals, i.e. deals based on total rather than weekly box office revenue. The testable predictions based on these conditions can be used by future empirical research once the available evidence on the use of aggregate deals in practice goes beyond anecdotal.